Alarming death rate, GHMC is clueless

Hyderabad: The death rate in the city has increased at an alarming rate. According to statistical data collected from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, the death rate in the city has increased from 3.17 per cent in 2013 to 6.29 per cent in 2017. Figures for 2018 are yet to be computed. The corporation has no clue why the death rate has gone up because, though it is supposed to analyse the cause of deaths every year, it has not been doing so for the past 10 years.

The corporation is supposed to submit its analysis of the cause of deaths to the Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM), which in turn will send it to the Union government. This way measures can be taken to reduce avoidable deaths. Highly placed sources in the corporation say 30 per cent of the deaths were ‘normal’ and 70 per cent are due to accidents, cancer, respiratory and kidney ailments.

Sources said that most of the abnormal deaths were reported in and around Hussainsagar and alongside the Musi river. The pollutants entering in to Hussainsagar cause severe respiratory problems. Authorities have been even leaving highly contaminated water in to Musi and residents living along side were also suffering from the several alignments.

A senior GHMC official however claimed that that they have been submitting the cause of death report to the IPM every year. Asked to share the details, the official said that the report has been misplaced and he will share the details in 15 days. “We have been pressurising CGG to submit current year’s report since a month but they have been delaying the process,” the official said. The birth rate on the other hand has been falling since 2014. Some 2,20,989 births were registered in 2014, 2,03,742 in 2015, 1,98,878 in 2016 and 1,199,140 in 2017.

Plan to link all hospitals with GHMC website

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has decided to link all government and private hospitals in the city to the corporation’s website for streamlining the data of births and deaths in the city. Officials said out of total 1463 government and private hospitals, 256 will have direct online linkage with the GHMC website and the rest will be linked in the near future. With respect to the rest of the hospitals, there is inordinate delay in submission of birth and death details, and sometimes, they are never shared, a statement from GHMC said.

The corporation has also decided to digitalise all birth and death records since 1957. About 20 lakh birth certificates have already been digitalised. The GHMC is still awaiting government orders to implement the Telangana Shishu Aadhaar project as part of its new e-Governance initiative. Under the project, newborn babies will be issued Aadhaar cards, birth certificates and birth defect registration if needed, at hospital level, free of cost. GHMC has written to the state government asking for approval to start the project. It proposes to initially implement the project in 25 identified civic hospitals. Meetings have been held with managements of private hospitals to discuss the project. Officials said a pilot project undertaken in a government maternity hospital had got a positive result.